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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Sport Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo |
When “Wii Sports” was first released with the Nintendo Wii, it was a great demonstration of what the Wii is able to accomplish with the
new controls of the system. It was the sort of game that was fun every once in a while and it was a lot of fun when played, but it was a
great selling point for the system. Either way, it is time for sequel to this hit game. Of course, with a sequel there needs to be some
new sports. Also, with the release of the new MotionPlus technology, another new game is needed to help sell the technology.
As a package, “Wii Sports Resort” has a lot more to offer than its predecessor. It does include two of the five previous games, bowling
and golf, but the game offerings fairly inconsistent. The variety of sports to be played is fairly irregular with some sports that will have
players wondering if this is really the best Nintendo could do. Also, with the Wii MotionPlus control, though it can be very impressive at
times, it doesn’t feel like anything new, there are some moments that it works great, but others where it is nothing spectacular.
Now that the negatives are out of the way, there is plenty of great material in the game for players to enjoy. There are a number of solid
events for players to take part in, such as archery and wakeboarding, but they prove to take some time to master.
Archery has three difficulty levels, each of which has a different set of targets at different distances, sizes and movements. The
mechanics of the game work well. Players hold the Wii Remote vertically in their left hand as the bow, then hold the Z trigger and pull
back the Nunchuck to focus in on the target, then let fly by releasing Z. The whole thing feels very natural and scoring a bull’s-eye is very
satisfying. Wakeboarding is another one of the more engaging single player games. Player’s hold the Wii Remote as one would the
rope handle and simply steer left and right to cut back and forth across the water. Though it is fun, it gets boring very quick when playing
alone. Table Tennis is possibly the best game of all, which is probably partly due to the fact that it is one of the only decent two player
games. The new MotionPlus controls are implemented well, giving players full control over the paddle, and the play speed is quite slow
so it has a good game play rhythm.
It would have been really nice if the game would offer proper 1:1 control and slowed the game play down a little bit. Players want
amazing swordfights where split second reactions count and random attacks don’t decide the outcome of the fight. Luckily, the
Swordplay mode doesn’t just consist of duels, there is also Showdown mode which puts players against a stream of enemies. This
mode is fun to play using clean strikes, but it is actually more effective to waggle the Wii Remote to black and deflect attacks.
For those players who want to continue to search the island, they will find even more sports to play, including Frisbee and Frisbee Golf,
which are good MotionPlus games. There is also basketball, which takes the form of a 3-Point Contest and a terrible 3-on-3 game,
Power Cruising which is a reasonable slalom jet ski game. Players will also find canoeing, cycling, skydiving, island flyover and
dogfight which are all very easy to forget after a short amount of time.
It quickly becomes apparent that there is only one game that is designed for four simultaneous players, which is canoeing, and it isn’t
exactly the best sport in the game. Though it is important to have turn based multiplayer games like bowling in a game, the use of the
MotionPlus controls are wasted with the lack multiplayer games, even the number of two player games is lacking.
When it comes to the idea of single player game play, “Wii Sports Resort” seems to only make a half hearted effort to accommodate to
players who want to play games on their own. Of course players can try and beat their scores across a variety of golf courses or play
through all of the Showdown levels in Swordplay. It is hard to understand why there aren’t any basic tournaments for players to
compete in and in. Events like Duel and Table Tennis would be a lot more exciting if players worked their way through a set of
opponents are varying difficulties to win trophies. As it is, players will simply face an endless succession of enemies whose difficulty is
based on how many experience points players have accrued. It is little ideas like this that would have made a huge difference in the
game.
If “Wii Sports Resort” was supposed to take over from “Wii Sports” as the pack-in title with the console, it would serve its purpose well.
For the time being, this game is not as great as the first game, so the real questions comes up, is this game worth paying for and will
players want to come back to it more than once? The answer would have to be no, but for groups of players this is a great game that
they will want to come back to together. However, those who consider themselves to be diehard fans of “Wii Sports,” “Wii Sports
Resort” will be a bit of a disappointment, especially for those who have already done everything they can with Bowling from the first
game. Either way, the new games can be fun, but nothing worth going out of the way to make the trip.
new controls of the system. It was the sort of game that was fun every once in a while and it was a lot of fun when played, but it was a
great selling point for the system. Either way, it is time for sequel to this hit game. Of course, with a sequel there needs to be some
new sports. Also, with the release of the new MotionPlus technology, another new game is needed to help sell the technology.
As a package, “Wii Sports Resort” has a lot more to offer than its predecessor. It does include two of the five previous games, bowling
and golf, but the game offerings fairly inconsistent. The variety of sports to be played is fairly irregular with some sports that will have
players wondering if this is really the best Nintendo could do. Also, with the Wii MotionPlus control, though it can be very impressive at
times, it doesn’t feel like anything new, there are some moments that it works great, but others where it is nothing spectacular.
Now that the negatives are out of the way, there is plenty of great material in the game for players to enjoy. There are a number of solid
events for players to take part in, such as archery and wakeboarding, but they prove to take some time to master.
Archery has three difficulty levels, each of which has a different set of targets at different distances, sizes and movements. The
mechanics of the game work well. Players hold the Wii Remote vertically in their left hand as the bow, then hold the Z trigger and pull
back the Nunchuck to focus in on the target, then let fly by releasing Z. The whole thing feels very natural and scoring a bull’s-eye is very
satisfying. Wakeboarding is another one of the more engaging single player games. Player’s hold the Wii Remote as one would the
rope handle and simply steer left and right to cut back and forth across the water. Though it is fun, it gets boring very quick when playing
alone. Table Tennis is possibly the best game of all, which is probably partly due to the fact that it is one of the only decent two player
games. The new MotionPlus controls are implemented well, giving players full control over the paddle, and the play speed is quite slow
so it has a good game play rhythm.
It would have been really nice if the game would offer proper 1:1 control and slowed the game play down a little bit. Players want
amazing swordfights where split second reactions count and random attacks don’t decide the outcome of the fight. Luckily, the
Swordplay mode doesn’t just consist of duels, there is also Showdown mode which puts players against a stream of enemies. This
mode is fun to play using clean strikes, but it is actually more effective to waggle the Wii Remote to black and deflect attacks.
For those players who want to continue to search the island, they will find even more sports to play, including Frisbee and Frisbee Golf,
which are good MotionPlus games. There is also basketball, which takes the form of a 3-Point Contest and a terrible 3-on-3 game,
Power Cruising which is a reasonable slalom jet ski game. Players will also find canoeing, cycling, skydiving, island flyover and
dogfight which are all very easy to forget after a short amount of time.
It quickly becomes apparent that there is only one game that is designed for four simultaneous players, which is canoeing, and it isn’t
exactly the best sport in the game. Though it is important to have turn based multiplayer games like bowling in a game, the use of the
MotionPlus controls are wasted with the lack multiplayer games, even the number of two player games is lacking.
When it comes to the idea of single player game play, “Wii Sports Resort” seems to only make a half hearted effort to accommodate to
players who want to play games on their own. Of course players can try and beat their scores across a variety of golf courses or play
through all of the Showdown levels in Swordplay. It is hard to understand why there aren’t any basic tournaments for players to
compete in and in. Events like Duel and Table Tennis would be a lot more exciting if players worked their way through a set of
opponents are varying difficulties to win trophies. As it is, players will simply face an endless succession of enemies whose difficulty is
based on how many experience points players have accrued. It is little ideas like this that would have made a huge difference in the
game.
If “Wii Sports Resort” was supposed to take over from “Wii Sports” as the pack-in title with the console, it would serve its purpose well.
For the time being, this game is not as great as the first game, so the real questions comes up, is this game worth paying for and will
players want to come back to it more than once? The answer would have to be no, but for groups of players this is a great game that
they will want to come back to together. However, those who consider themselves to be diehard fans of “Wii Sports,” “Wii Sports
Resort” will be a bit of a disappointment, especially for those who have already done everything they can with Bowling from the first
game. Either way, the new games can be fun, but nothing worth going out of the way to make the trip.
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